2nd Time around pool owner

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brmeselady

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Bronze Supporter
Jul 3, 2017
14
Florissant, MO (St. Louis suburb)
Hello, About 1 1/2 years ago we bought a house with a 20x40 inground pool. We know the basics since we had an above ground pool several years ago. Last summer went great as far as pool maintenance. However this year our chlorine bottomed out resulting in everything going out of what and the pool developed algae. Off to the pool store we went. We ended up spending $300 on chemicals to get it cleared up after much frustration. The pool looks good now but we still have a bit of tan/sand colored residue on parts of the pool. I started thinking there has to be a better way and ran across your site on the internet. I have found your site to be very useful and informative. I would like to try this method in hopes of getting better results. Any pearls of wisdom for switching and what to do about the residue we have?

Sheila
 
Hi Sheila and welcome to TFP! :wave: We would love to help you take charge of the pool. We avoid the pool store like the plague because of inconsistencies and expensive products. We always advocate at-home testing with the "proper" product. Either a TF-100 (link below) or Taylor K-2006C test kit. Everything we advise on this forum starts with tests from one of those kits. I have the TF-100 and can attest to its value. If you can get one of those and post a full set of results, that would be fantastic.

As for the tan color ... hard to tell. It may actually be a light brown/rust residue from iron if you fill from a well. If that's true, the iron precipitated out during the elevated shock treatments of chlorine you added. Just a thought. Hard to tell for sure right now without test results, but I have my suspicions.

For now, try to get one of those test kits and please review/bookmark the vital links below in my signature. Don't forget to update your sig as well, and it's great to have you with us.
 
The test kit arrived (TF-100 with speed stir) and I did the tests. The results are:

FC: 7
CC: 0.5
TC: 7.5
CH: 125
TA: 130
CYA: 70

I did the test and double checked numbers. Hopefully I did it correctly. I have been using granular shock as well as pucks in an inline chlorinator. On 6-11, CYA per the pool store was 40. Why did it go up or is there that much of a difference in pool test kits? The pool is not clear. The first picture is one of the pool as a whole, second is what the shallow end looks like, and the third is one of the very sad looking deep end. (Removed pictures 2 & 3 because I ran out of upload space��)

I would love some insight to the current pool situation.

Sheila
 

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The pics show algae in its early stages. Yes, the CYA test is a bit tricky, and pool store tests don't help to validate ours either. Your TF-100 is the best tool, so we'll use 70 as the CYA. The CYA will continue to increase with tabs, pucks, and granular bags of shock - unless it's Cal-Hypo which increases CH. So please remove any tabs/pucks right away. Your number one task right now is to perform a TFP "SLAM" (link below). That calls for lowering the pH to 7.2 with muriatic acid, then, based on a CYA of 70, increase your FC to a SLAM of "28" using just regular bleach. No splashless or scented bleaches. Just the plain stuff. You'll want to maintain the FC of 28 as best as you can around the clock until you pass the 3 SLAM criteria. The more vigilant you are on the SLAM page instructions, the better the SLAM will work for you. Make sure to remove any pucks/tabs now as well. :)

Congrats on the TF-100 and taking charge of your pool. Stick with the regular bleach and SLAM page and you'll do fine. If you have any questions along the way, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!
 
Pucks are removed. Inline chlorinator going off. I had no idea those products would raise the CYA. I read the SLAM process and realized that when we shocked per pool store we didn't maintain shock level until totally clear....something they didn't tell us. I plan to start SLAM tomorrow after I buy the needed bleach.
 
If you live near Menards, they have liquid chlorine - Pool Shock on sale for $1.77/gal. It's 12.5% Chlorine which is very good. Look at the manufacturing date, a Julian date, such as 170176 which is 176th day of the year 2017 (June 25th). Higher the date, fresher the pool shock.
 
Awesome :whoot: Stick around the site, the water is fine :paddle: before you know it you will be helping others save money by avoiding the pool store. As a non profit learning site TFP relies on donations to keep the lights on. If you think it has saved you some money perhaps you would consider a donation just click the link in the top left of the page.
 

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